Various types of devices have traditionally been used in video applications for signal testing and monitoring purposes. One such device is the waveform monitor, which is a specialized form of oscilloscope used to measure and display the level or voltage of a video signal (i.e., luminance) with respect to time. This level may be used for calibrating a video camera, for example, as well as other uses. Another important device is the vectorscope, which is another specialized form of oscilloscope that is used to visualize chrominance components of a video signal.
As television and other video formats transition to the digital domain, the need for digital (i.e., computer-based) testing and monitoring tools has increased. Yet, typical video monitoring tools often fall short of the level of information that can be provided with analog devices such as waveform monitors and vectorscopes. As a result, certain approaches have been developed in an attempt to replicate video signal analysis capabilities of analog devices in digital video platforms.
By way of example, one such digital video signal testing and monitoring platform is the Omnitek XR from Image Processing Techniques Ltd. of the UK. Waveform generation algorithms are used to give user-adjustable displays. Arbitrary combinations of components may be displayed simultaneously, such as YRGB and vectorscope, or YCbCr and Composite. The continuously variable H and V magnification and Y range may be set via a region-of-interest control. The vectorscope is scalable, and may also operate on a selected region-of-interest. Further, a “luma qualification mode” enables the vectorscope to display chroma values within a specific luma range.
While such devices have begun to provide waveform monitor and vectorscope views, further enhancements to the capabilities of such digital waveform monitor and vectroscope simulators may be desirable to more closely approximate the actual output of their analog counterparts in some applications.